Hannibal Gaddafi, the youngest son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been released by Lebanese authorities following nearly ten years of detention without trial.
His lawyer, Laurent Bayon, confirmed the release and the payment of a $900,000 bail. Bayon stated that Gaddafi would depart Lebanon for an undisclosed destination, adding that "It's the end of a nightmare for him that lasted 10 years."
Mr. Gaddafi, 49, was detained by Lebanese authorities in 2015. He faced accusations of withholding information concerning the 1978 disappearance of Lebanese Shia cleric Musa al-Sadr in Libya. At the time of al-Sadr's disappearance, Hannibal Gaddafi was two years old and held no official position as an adult within the Libyan government.
Initially, a judge had set bail at $11 million in October, which was subsequently reduced last week after an appeal from his defense team.
Prior to his detention by Lebanese authorities, Mr. Gaddafi was briefly abducted by an armed group in Lebanon in 2015 before being freed. Following the overthrow of his father's regime in 2011, he had sought refuge in Syria and later resided under house arrest in Oman alongside his wife, Aline Skaf. The disappearance of Musa al-Sadr has been a persistent source of diplomatic tension between Libya and Lebanon for several decades.